A ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Sequel Is Being Discussed

Obvious real-world reasons would seemingly preclude a sequel to Bohemian Rhapsody. But logic means nothing in the face of massive box office — the Queen biopic has already made $875 million worldwide (it’s basically the biggest musical biography ever) — and four Academy Awards, including one for Rami Malek as Best Actor. Could you really make a Bohemian Rhapsody sequel?

According to Page Six, at least someone thinks so. They quote a Queen associate explaining that the idea of a follow-up is being “discussed” right now:

Rudi Dolezal — who directed videos for the band, and became close with Mercury during his life — told Page Six in an interview about Queen’s legendary manager Jim Beach, ‘I’m sure he plans a sequel that starts with Live Aid.’ Dolezal added that the follow-up film is now, ‘being heavily discussed in the Queen family.’

Bohemian Rhapsody does end with Live Aid, which took place in 1985; Freddie Mercury didn’t pass away until 1991, so there is some room to explore his life in between. (Queen also released several albums after Live Aid, although those records don’t contain many of the classic hits that fans love). Still all of the band’s most exhilarating moments came before those final years, so you would have to figure out some kind of flashback structure to give any kind of sequel the same emotional highs as the original. Still, it could be done.

Could you convince Malek to come back though? A big part of Bohemian’s success was Malek’s performance as Freddie Mercury. But now that he won an Oscar, is he really going to want to reprise it? That seems very unlikely.